Khanti, U

   (U Khan Dee, ?-1949)

   The famous "Hermit of Mandalay Hill," who devoted his life to restoring Buddhist sites in and around Mandalay and other parts of Burma. After spending 12 years as a member of the Sangha, he was invited by the Kinwun Mingyi, at the time an advisor to the British, to collect donations for the restoration of the temples on Mandalay Hill. He also collected donations to build a reliquary on the hill to house relics of Gotama Buddha that had been discovered in Peshawar (in present-day Pakistan) and donated by the British government to Burma. His zealous construction efforts, spanning four decades, won him renown among Buddhists worldwide, and many admirers claimed he had supernatural powers.